The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan

The aftermath of the explosion at the Twin Towers is still lingering.

Mio Tokiwa and other Tokiwa Group executives were afraid that they would be liquidated by the organization, so they cried and turned themselves in to the police station, and were thrown into prison one after another; a group of guests who were marked that night were taken away by the police and registered as missing.

The explosion that directly collapsed the entire building, the people who were lying in the guest room before the explosion, and the investigation of the entire Tokiwa Group's illegal activities...

In addition, Mio Tokiwa's dinner party was already crowded with guests, and she did her best to invite celebrities from her network, which made the evidence collection work of the Investigation Section even more difficult. Even with the cooperation of multiple different departments, it took several days.

Conan, Kogoro Mori and others did not show too many abnormalities that night. The most abnormal part was that Conan, the elementary school student rescued by the Phantom Thieves of Heart, was recorded very late.

Tang Ze's own statement was completed the day after the incident, using the identity of Kitagawa Yusuke to accompany Kisaragi Minemizu. Today, he just came along to join in the fun.

—— Mainly to wait for Sato Miwako.

Although her intersection with Matsuda Jinpei has been broadcast in the plot in the form of flashbacks, Tang Ze, who is familiar with the case, naturally knows this, but since this information is now used to pull Matsuda Jinpei, Tang Ze still hopes to improve the details as much as possible.

It is not as reliable to understand the case from any angle as to listen to the parties themselves.

With Tang Ze's current relationship with several police officers in the Investigation Section, it is not difficult to find a suitable entry point.

So, when Sato Miwako finished recording the statements of several elementary school students and walked out exhausted, she saw Takagi Wataru chatting with Tang Ze.

Takagi, this guy, everyone is so busy, he still has time to slack off here...

If I had known earlier, I should have thrown the task of recording the statements of elementary school students to him!

Oh, I really should have put their statements together with Kitagawa-kun's. The elementary school students who lost control were just like a group of husky puppies...

When she walked quickly towards Karasawa and Takagi Wataru who were sitting at the desk, she heard Karasawa explaining his recent experience at school.

"Do you have that feeling? Officer Takagi, it's the illusion that someone who has long left you appears around you again..."

"...Are you talking about your parents, Karasawa-kun?" After a moment of hesitation, Takagi Wataru reacted quickly.

Although he didn't know why he was just politely concerned about Karasawa's recent situation who was waiting for someone in the hall, things inexplicably turned into a conversation between him and Karasawa sitting here. Takagi Wataru, who was controlled for more than ten minutes, still attached great importance to what Karasawa expressed.

Regarding the trial that happened to this child and almost destroyed his life, the police officers of the Investigation Section 1 have been paying attention to it intentionally or unintentionally since they came into contact with Karasawa.

He also learned about Karasawa's life experience that was put on the surface, and soon understood who Karasawa was referring to.

In his short 18 years of life, the child had very limited interpersonal relationships. The only people he had truly lost were his parents.

... Moreover, since the two had been participating in research projects abroad for a long time, the cause of their death was only recorded as a simple traffic accident. There was no specific explanation of the accident, nor was there any specific information about the responsible party.

When he learned the news, Tang Ze had already been sentenced for injury. He even needed a special review and application to leave Kyoto and come to Tokyo, not to mention going abroad to collect the bodies of his parents.

A few months later, the child couldn't even get his parents' ashes, and he didn't know whether his parents' remains were still frozen in a funeral home somewhere...

Thinking of this, Takagi Shigeru couldn't help but push the paper cup filled with warm water to Tang Ze's hand, indicating that he should drink some hot water to calm down.

Tang Ze took the water cup and sighed: "Yes, the new psychologist in our school looks a lot like my father."

"Are you talking about appearance?" Hearing the word "psychologist", Takagi Shigeru straightened his back and asked seriously.

It's not that he has a prejudice against psychologists. It's really that the fact that Fenghu Kyosuke, a psychologist who has served in the police station for a long time, had a problem and murdered many colleagues has brought a huge psychological shadow to the entire Investigation Division, and he can't ignore it.

"...That's not the case." Tang Ze put on a look of reminiscence, "In fact, his style is very different from my father's. I look a lot like my father, especially the facial features. If it weren't for the big difference in hair color, I would look younger, and many people would find it difficult to tell them apart. Oh, it's about the same level as that Kudo Shinichi and his father."

Conan, who was sneaking past them and trying to get access to the information of the Tokiwa Group, suddenly stiffened his back and looked in the direction of Tang Ze suspiciously.

What was Tang Ze talking about with Officer Takagi? Why did he mention him inexplicably...

"Then they should be very similar." Takagi Wataru, who had seen Kudo Shinichi and even saw Kudo Yusaku in the news reports, nodded suddenly.

"This new psychologist actually has a face that is quite different from my father's. His eye shape is very different, and his face is a little longer. If you really compare their photos, you can definitely tell the difference." At this point, Tang Ze sighed sadly, "But when I see him, I can't help but think of my father. I'm starting to doubt my eyes."

Ran Maori, who finished the record first, was originally sitting on the stool on the other side waiting for Maori Kogoro. When she heard Tang Ze's description, she couldn't help but lean over.

She was also very curious about Tang Ze's thoughts on this psychiatrist.

"If the face is not similar, is it the voice or the clothes?" Takagi Wataru asked in confusion.

"The clothes are indeed a bit similar, but it seems normal for doctors to wear white coats. Well, if I have to say..." After thinking for a while with his chin in his hand, Tang Ze said in an uncertain tone, "Hairstyle? And, glasses?"

When the topic came to this point, Maori Kogoro's car of young detectives and Maori Ran had already gathered around the two of them.

On the other side, as Sato Miwako stood a few steps away from them, intending to listen to their conversation, several familiar police officers from the Investigation Division also came over.

The timing was just right.

So Tang Ze pretended to be distressed and scratched his hair: "I don't know how to say it... Um, Officer Takagi, do you mind if I demonstrate it?"

"Eh?" Takagi was stunned, not realizing why the topic suddenly turned to his head.

When he wanted to express his opinion again, Tang Ze had already stood up and crossed the table without saying anything, and randomly scratched his neatly combed hair.

Takagi's sight was blocked by Tang Ze's body, and Tang Ze's movements were very fast. Basically, before he could struggle, he had been changed into another hairstyle.

Mao Lai's disguise technique, and Tang Ze, who had been using it frequently for several months, was already an expert in styling. Ten seconds was enough for him to change his disguise once, and it was natural for him to take care of Takagi's hairstyle.

"Glasses, glasses... Well, use this." Pretending not to notice Conan standing behind him with black-framed glasses, Tang Ze picked up the sunglasses that Shiratori Renzaburo had put aside and put them on the bridge of Takagi's nose.

After styling Takagi Shigeki according to Matsuda Jinpei's hairstyle, Tang Ze looked at Takagi Shigeki's hairstyle with a critical look.

To be honest, Takagi Shigeki doesn't look like Matsuda Jinpei. He is indeed a bit different from Kiharagawa and Karasawa Ikawa. Karasawa's analogy is really right.

Tang Ze, who had seen Matsuda Jinpei in person in the Hall of Furuya Rei, felt that, not to mention that Matsuda Jinpei was indeed a handsome guy, while Takagi Shigeki was at best a little handsome, the basic difference in appearance, the eye shape, skin color and temperament of the two people were completely different. Whether they were familiar or not, it was really difficult to distinguish them.

He guessed that it was probably because the sunglasses covered the eyes, the subtle similarity in the face shape and the similar hairstyle would cause some visual impact to people like Sato Miwako who had too deep memories of Matsuda Jinpei's death.

"Well, that's about it. My father..."

Just as they were thinking about it, the harsh sound of tables and chairs colliding came from two steps behind them.

Everyone's eyes couldn't help but be attracted.

I saw Sato Miwako bumping into a chair next to another desk, but she didn't care about the noise she made, and stared at Takagi Shigeki's current image in a trance.

At the desk of the first investigation class, a curly-haired man sitting at his seat with a water cup, chatting and laughing casually, with a nonchalant attitude...

"...Sato, Sato? Are you okay?"

————

"...I completely understand your feelings, Karasawa-kun." Sato Miwako, holding a wine glass, sat in the corner of the table, whispering in a lost voice.

When seeing Takagi Shigeki on weekdays, no one would confuse him with Matsuda Jinpei.

Matsuda Jinpei, at least the Matsuda Jinpei she had come into contact with, was a free and unrestrained person, arrogant but humorous, and firm and gentle enough inside.

Takagi Shigeki, who was reckless and had some blood and momentum, was a completely different person from all angles.

However, this afternoon, she was completely captured by her own illusions in a trance, and couldn't help but flash back to those scenes that were still vivid in her mind after three years. Some scattered fragments kept passing through her mind, and in the end, they all ended with the flames and flames of the explosion.

Three more years have passed...

"Do you also remember some people who left?" Tang Ze retracted his gaze from the table and asked Sato Miwako softly.

"... Leaving is inevitable. We are police officers, and this is a dangerous profession. It is inevitable to fall on the front line, fall under the knife of criminals, fall in accidents and regrets." After taking a sip of wine, Sato Miwako sighed, "Working in the First Investigation Division, the sacrifice rate is already lower than many front-line departments, but every year, we still have to hold several memorial services. I'm used to it."

Such as several colleagues who died of heart attacks and were shot by Fudo Kyosuke in revenge in the case related to Fudo Kyosuke, such as Officer Ida who died in a car accident due to fatigue a year ago, and even, such as her father...

Before entering the industry, she understood the meaning of sacrifice more deeply than many people, but she still came without hesitation.

She experienced the departure of her father when she was young, and the reason why she chose the police industry unswervingly was to inherit her father's legacy, to fulfill her ambition since childhood, and to stop more tragedies and sacrifices.

However, Matsuda Jinpei is different.

"When we started working, we were prepared to make sacrifices, but, but he..." Sato Miwako, whose cheeks were already a little red from drinking, took a breath and raised her hands to cover her eyes.

It was not just a simple matter that a guy who was still alive and kicking and joking with her just a few minutes ago died in the blink of an eye. It was not an accident, nor was it caught off guard...

It was a malicious calculation, a tragic sacrifice of a policeman who was walking towards death step by step in order to fulfill his oath.

Countless times, Sato Miwako imagined what it would be like to sit in front of the bomb, watching the countdown move second by second, as if watching his life slip away with his own eyes.

She couldn't imagine it, but she couldn't let it go after receiving the last call and text message from Matsuda Jinpei in the world.

Tang Ze raised his hand, gently patted Sato Miwako's bent back, glanced at Conan who came over, and still chose to say in a gentle voice: "Do you mind chatting? Maybe you will feel better if you say it out."

Conan, who moved slightly to Tang Ze's side with a juice, looked at him strangely for a moment, and then looked at the noisy dining table strangely for a while.

Maybe it was a chain reaction caused by Karasawa's confession in the afternoon, or maybe it was Sato Miwako's emotional fluctuations that aroused the concern of the police officers of the Investigation Division 1...

In short, I don't know why. They came to the police station to take a statement and could go back after finishing it. Now it has inexplicably developed into Maori Kogoro and a group of off-duty policemen gathering together for dinner and drinks.

Considering the whole process, he felt that Karasawa played an indispensable role in it. Without him chatting with Takagi Wataru, everything that followed would not have happened.

I just don't know whether Karasawa did it on purpose or it was a coincidence...

The instigator Karasawa was still whispering.

"I can understand your feelings, Officer Sato. I also know that it is not polite to look for the shadow of the deceased in others, and it is not respectful to both parties. But sometimes, it is inevitable to have such a feeling. It feels terrible to be trapped in the fantasy of the past and can't find a place to ask for help. Officer Sato..."

I don't know which words of Karasawa touched her nerves, and Sato Miwako suddenly drank the wine in her hand.

Then she put her arm around Tang Ze who was patting her shoulder, and in a weird posture of arm-in-arm, she slowly began to speak.

"It's okay to tell you now, the time is getting closer. If Detective Maori can... Forget it. That was three years ago..."

————

On the other side of Tokyo, in the same night, in the same noisy izakaya, someone was also talking about a similar topic.

"I heard that brat mentioned that you seemed to have lost track of where you went after graduation... Forget it, I'm an old man, and I don't need to ask about such things."

"...I do have some tasks. So I came to visit you three years later, which is really rude." Pulling the hood, Keimitsu Morobushi added more wine to Jotaro Matsuda's glass and continued to speak along with the other party's words.

Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara had made their direction choices before graduation. Several of their police academy friends went to different positions after graduation, and everything after that was so unpredictable.

It's not good to say that he couldn't come to mourn Matsuda Jinpei because he died earlier than him. Morobushi Kagemitsu could only continue to persuade Matsuda Jotaro to drink and wait for him to give the information he needed.

"What's rude?" Matsuda Jotaro drank half a glass of wine in one gulp, and hissed because of the spiciness. "You still remember to come here, so it's not in vain that you have been a policeman for such a time."

"He is a very good policeman."

"Humph, I would rather he was ordinary and not take so many things on himself..." Matsuda Jotaro shook his head, "Forget it, the person is gone, there is no point in saying these things. Let's drink, drink."

Under the influence of alcohol and dim light, his eyes looked straight ahead with a little slack, and the old look that could not be concealed was all over his face. The ravages of the years, catalyzed by the decline and twists of life experience, were more ruthless to him than others.

Matsuda Jotaro, since Matsuda Jinpei was still a child, has been a very standard frustrated middle-aged man.

Like Maori Kogoro before, his life was smooth sailing in his youth, but because of some accidents and fate, his life took a sharp turn for the worse after a turning point. He finally chose to numb himself with alcohol, detached from real life, and spent his days drinking.

Matsuda Jinpei mentioned this when explaining the reason why he became a policeman. Now, Matsuda Jotaro, who lost his son, is afraid that his life will be even more hopeless. It is not an exaggeration to describe his future life as hardship and hopelessness.

So Morobushi Kagemitsu also adopted a similar strategy as Karasawa and went to have a drink with Matsuda Jotaro.

At the wine table, as long as there is enough space for talking, every adult will have endless topics to talk about.

This is a good strategy, including when Karasawa was trying to get information about himself.

The suffering of life will only be so concretely experienced at this moment, and only in the moment of drowsiness can everyone find a fleeting gap and pour out too many words that are suppressed in their hearts.

Zhu Fu Jingguang shook the wine in the cup twice and drank it all.

He was not worried about any accidents after drinking too much. Noah was responsible for collecting specific information, and there were teammates sitting nearby to watch over his safety. Zhu Fu Jingguang had nothing to worry about.

After all, who doesn't need to get drunk?